Film and film/nonwoven laminates are used in a wide variety of applications, not the least of which is as outercovers/backsheets for limited use or disposable products including personal care absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, swimwear, incontinence garments, feminine hygiene products, wound dressings, bandages and the like. The outercover or backsheet is the layer in a personal care article that is farthest from the skin of a consumer during product use. Film/nonwoven laminates also have applications in the protective cover area, such as in car, boat or other object cover components, tents. (outdoor recreational covers), and in the health care area in conjunction with such products as surgical drapes, hospital gowns and fenestration reinforcements. Additionally, such materials have applications in other apparel for clean room, health care, mortuary, veterinary, and other uses such as agricultural fabrics (row covers).
In the personal care area in particular, there has been an emphasis on the development of film laminates which have good barrier properties, especially with respect to liquids, as well as good aesthetic and tactile properties such as improved hand and feel. There has been an emphasis on addressing the “rubbery” or “plastic” feel encountered when touching polymeric sheet materials. There has been a further emphasis on the “stretch” comfort of such laminates, that is, the ability of the laminates to “give” as a result of the product utilizing such laminates being elongated in use.
Many such laminates used in consumer products are constructed with nonwoven facings which are necked (i.e., stretched in the machine direction and allowed to contract in the width or cross-machine direction) and laminated to an extensible or elastic film. The necking of the nonwoven facing provides the laminate with cross-machine direction extensibility. A greater degree of necking in the nonwoven facings results in greater extensibility in the finished laminate. However, these laminates are produced with relatively high cross-directional tension. Having relatively high cross-directional tension results in reduced ability to provide reliable fastening for a hook and loop type fastening system, when such laminates are to be used as the loop material for such a system. Further, having relatively high cross-directional tension results in reduced ability to provide good fit and gasketing, and makes donning of such products difficult, especially for younger consumers. Having high cross-directional tension also creates the impression that if such materials are stretched too much, they will rupture easily.
It has been found that in order to achieve low cross-machine tensions over a wider stretch, materials have to be necked beyond process capability. Additionally, such extreme necking results in material loss and increased production costs.
It would therefore be desirable to produce a laminate that has a higher level of extensibility at lower tensions across the length and width dimensions of the laminate. Such attribute could assist in providing fasten-anywhere capability to such a material, that is the ability of a hook to fasten anywhere across a laminate's width or length, and not just at a designated location. It would also be desired to provide a similar laminate with elasticity in multiple directions at relatively low tension levels. The present invention addresses these and other opportunities for improvement.